The Times They Are A-Changin'

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The Times They Are A-Changin'
Published on 10/24/2006 in Features

Taylor Katz

I've recently been convinced that records may be the key to my happiness.
When you play a record as opposed to CDs or songs off of an iPod, there is a
necessary amount of interaction with the music; you have to chose the
record, carefully place it on the turntable, place the needle down, etc.
There is something almost magical about the music that comes from a record
player, and the inevitable scratchy background noise only serves to enhance
the authentic feel of the music being played. Back in the day (as in, the
days of exuberant hippies, peace marches, and LSD), people used to make
records-as in the record of the event of people playing music in a room
together. But nowadays music is all about advertising and who's writing
beats for whom, and that distinct purity of simply making music (with or
without the help of hallucinogenic drugs) very often feels lost.

Not that I don't love my iPod. How else could I feel like I am starring in
the newest sitcom based on my adorable life as I walk down the sidewalk
bouncing along to some new Justin Timberlake song? The availability of so
much music in a portable gizmo like an iPod is truly a wonder. However,
before the days of iPods and Discmen, music wasn't nearly as accessible, and
therefore I imagine that it had to mean more each time you listened to a
song, because the music wasn't always so readily within reach.

It's very possible that I'm romanticizing about an era that I've only
experienced through movies, stories, and Janis Joplin's drunken warbling. I'm
aware that this newfound passion for records may sound random coming from a
college student in the "technological age." But ever since my boyfriend got
a record player, all I've wanted to do is sit in musty antique stores and
sort through piles and piles of records, no matter how it may make me sneeze
or make my neck so tense I can barely nod. Because when we put on a record,
no matter what time of day it is, I immediately feel a unique sense of calm
and nostalgic happiness. "So this is what my parents felt like back in the
day!" I'll exclaim, leaning back on a chair. Normally a connection between
my parents' youth and mine results in a nauseated sensation, but listening
to records is a shared experience that delights me. And believe
me-delighting in having something in common with my parents is a once in a
blue moon occurrence.